RAF Chailey

50.9557, -0.0501 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Chailey was a short-lived wartime airfield in East Sussex, built on farmland at Bower Farm near the village of Chailey by the RAF Airfield Construction Service. It was one of the network of Advanced Landing Grounds laid out across south-east England to support the planned invasion of Europe: a basic, temporary station with a metalled landing surface rather than concrete runways, intended to be packed up and moved forward once the Allied armies were ashore. Construction reportedly required the demolition of a local public house, The Plough, which was later rebuilt nearby.

The station became operational in the spring of 1944 and was home to No. 131 (Polish) Fighter Wing, part of the Second Tactical Air Force. The wing comprised three Polish-manned squadrons, Nos. 302, 308 and 317, flying Supermarine Spitfires, supported by RAF Regiment units including No. 1312 Mobile Wing and No. 2882 Squadron. From here the Polish pilots flew sweeps and ground-attack missions in the run-up to and aftermath of the D-Day landings of June 1944.

Having served its purpose once Allied air units moved to the Continent, the airfield was wound down and derequisitioned early in 1945, with the land returned to farming. Little survives today beyond scattered remains, and a memorial to the station and its Polish airmen stands at the rebuilt Plough inn.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust — Chailey and Wikipedia: RAF Chailey. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

Site of Chailey Advanced Landing Ground A World War Two airfield constructed at the beginning of 1943 and operational by April that year. Two runways running north-south and east-west were built along with a fuel dump and a few blister hangars. Westlands Cottage in the distance on the right and nearby Bower Farm were requisitioned to be used as headquarters. A Polish squadron, 131 Wing operated from here from the opening until late June 1944 before moving elsewhere. The airfield was then mothballed and returned to agricultural use in early 1945. Very little remains of the airfield, a brick pumphouse to the south is the only structure specifically built that has survived. The only other reminder is the flat featureless terrain devoid of hedgerows and trees that is typical of the Weald around here.
ⓘ licence & creditSimon Carey / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Site_of_Chailey_Advanced_Landing_Ground_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1530265.jpgView source & full licence →
Site of Chailey Advanced Landing Ground Site of a temporary airfield that operated during World War Two. The site was laid out in early 1943 having removed a large number of hedgerows and trees as well as the original Plough Inn to create it. Two runways running north-south and east-west which crossed roughly at the point of Beresford Lane were laid out as well as a fuel dump and a few blisters hangars. Nearby Bower Farm and Westlands Cottage were requisitioned and used as the headquarters of the airfield. A Polish squadron, 131 Wing, operated from the airfield between April 1943 to June 1944 when they moved to another Sussex airfield near Chichester. The site was then mothballed until January 1945 when it was no longer needed and the land allowed to be returned to agriculture. Activity returned to the field in 2000 for the Chailey Airshow where many old spitfires and some of their pilots returned and again in 2004 for another show. The only building survives on the southern edge of th
ⓘ licence & creditSimon Carey / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Site_of_Chailey_Advanced_Landing_Ground_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1530216.jpgView source & full licence →
Middle Field The name of the field according to the 1839 tithe map and once part of Plumpton Common that was enclosed in the late 16th century. All the field boundaries here were torn down in early January 1943 to allow construction for Chailey Advanced Landing Ground, a temporary airfield. The result is one huge and flat area of land to the west of Beresford Lane.
ⓘ licence & creditSimon Carey / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Middle_Field_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1530250.jpgView source & full licence →
Brick Pumphouse, Chailey Advanced Landing Ground Partially obscured by the bushes is the only surviving structure built for Chailey Advanced Landing Ground, a temporary airfield that operated between 1943-44. This part of the airfield was the fuel dump.
ⓘ licence & creditSimon Carey / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brick_Pumphouse,_Chailey_Advanced_Landing_Ground_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1530236.jpgView source & full licence →

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